Trees, traffic lights still problem in Triangle. Hard-hit Durham areas wait for power.
Thousands of businesses, schools and residents across the Triangle started Wednesday morning without power, dodging downed trees and cleaning up after Tuesday’s massive storm.
Durham County officials opened several cooling stations Wednesday afternoon, so folks without power could find relief. Cooling stations will available at most Durham Public Library locations through Thursday evening, and at the Weaver Street Recreation Center, located at 3000 Weaver St., the county alert said. (Details below)
Tuesday’s storm packed sustained winds of up to 53 mph and gusts of up to 72 mph at the National Weather Service’s Durham-Chapel Hill station.
By 11:15 p.m. Tuesday, more than 60,000 Duke Energy customers had lost power. A woman was killed when a tree fell on her car, and thousands of drivers were left snarled in traffic after a 32-car pileup on Interstate 40 at the height of the storm.
By 2 p.m. Wednesday, over 51,000 Duke Energy customers still had no power, including 47,503 customers in Durham County. Orange County had 3,699 customers without power, while power was nearly restored to Wake and Johnston County customers.
Duke Energy was estimating that Durham County customers could see power fully restored by 2:30 a.m. Thursday. Orange County customers could see the lights come on just a little earlier, by 11:45 p.m. Wednesday, the utility said.
Fewer than a dozen Piedmont Electric customers in Orange County remained without power, the company said. In Durham, Wake Electric Membership Corp. was reported roughly 161 customers without power.
The electrical outages forced Durham Public Schools to keep students home Wednesday, while staff at year-round and specialty high schools and central services offices were on a two-hour delay. Durham Technical Community College closed its Duke Street North campus Wednesday.
Some Durham businesses resorted Wednesday to taking cash-only orders — in person — while they waited for phone and internet service to be restored.
Foster’s lost power for five hours Tuesday night, said Matt Griffith, assistant general manager at Foster’s Market in Durham. Around 4 p.m., they loaded perishables into a walk-in cooler that operates on a generator behind the business when the electricity goes out.
Customers have been kind, Griffith told The News & Observer.
“Luckily, we live in a supportive community and people know us,” he said. “I think some people are just happy to have hot coffee, too.”
Photos: Fallen trees, power outages left in wake of Triangle storms
Donna Warsaw, 78, of Hillsborough was killed Tuesday when a large tree fell on her car as she was driving north on Anderson Street around 4:20 p.m., near the Lakewood neighborhood. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Two additional collisions involving 32 cars on Interstate 40 near The Streets at Southpoint mall were reported around 5 p.m. Parts of the interstate remained closed until just after 8 p.m. Tuesday, leaving thousands of rush-hour drivers stuck in traffic or seeking alternate routes.
The State Highway Patrol and Durham police are investigating the collisions, Highway Patrol officials said in an email Wednesday. There were no reports of major injuries or fatalities, they said.
The National Weather Service reported that the high temperature for Raleigh-Durham reached a record-setting 100 degrees Tuesday. Temperatures were expected to fall significantly as a cold front moved into the area Wednesday, with a high of only about 88 degrees expected by afternoon. Isolated storms are possible over the next few days, the NWS reported.
Cooling, cell charging stations
The following locations are offering public bathrooms, air-conditioning and cell phone charging in Durham and Orange counties:
Durham County
All public libraries, except for the Stanford L. Warren Branch Library and the Bragtown Library Family Literacy Center, will be open until 8 p.m. Wednesday and from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday. Durham County’s Main Library is the only one offering cell phone charging stations.
The Weaver Street Recreation Center, located at 3000 Weaver St., is also open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
▪ Main Library, 300 N. Roxboro St.
▪ East Regional Library, 211 Lick Creek Lane
▪ North Regional Library, 211 Milton Road
▪ South Regional Library, 4505 S. Alston Ave.
▪ Southwest Regional Library, 3605 Shannon Road
Orange County
Libraries in Hillsborough, Carrboro and Chapel Hill, along with the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service, Weaver Street Market and recreation centers countywide are available this week if residents need somewhere to take a break.
More information and a list of what’s available at each location can be found at ocpehnc.com/resources.
Report power out, tree damage
Durham County officials have asked residents to stay away from downed trees and branches that may be tangled with power lines. Residents should call 911 if a downed tree is creating an immediate threat, they said.
Otherwise, residents can reported damaged trees on city-maintained streets to the Durham Emergency Communications Center non-emergency line at 919-560-4600 or the Durham One Call center during regular business hours.
Property owners are responsible for trees that fall on private property, including driveways, apartment access roads, parking lots and sidewalks.
Anyone still having trouble with their electricity service or with downed power lines can contact:
▪ Duke Energy Progress: Report outages online or by calling 1-800-POWER-ON or 1-800-419-6356. An outage map is being updated at the Duke Energy website or customers can sign up for alerts.
▪ Piedmont Electric Membership Corp.: Report an outage via SmartHub or by calling 1-800-222-3107. Piedmont EMC provides more details about outages at restoration updates map.
Durham, Chapel Hill roads closed
Emergency crews and police were still opening roads, removing downed trees and repairing power lines Wednesday morning. Durham police urged drivers to exercise caution throughout the day and treat intersections where the traffic lights are out as four-way stops.
Police also asked that drivers heed road closure signs by choosing another route and not driving past barricades or signs. Additional road closures are possible, and updates are being posted online, they said. Officers are directing traffic in some heavily traveled areas.
“Barricades have been placed at these locations to protect the public. Walking or driving past barricades or crime scene tape can expose you to extremely hazardous conditions,” police said in a news release Wednesday.
Chapel Hill roads
Chapel Hill police and power crews were able to reopen Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, between Homestead Road and Estes Drive early Wednesday morning, after a fallen tree and power lines forced traffic onto surrounding streets.
These roads remained closed at 11 a.m. Wednesday:
▪ Shady Lawn Road at Eastwood Drive
▪ North Street at Boundary Street
▪ Sugarberry Road
Durham roads
Police have reported road closures at:
▪ 1000 block of Hyde Park Avenue
▪ North Driver Street and Liberty Street
▪ Railroad Street and Liberty Street
▪ Angier Avenue and Wrenn Road
▪ 1100 block of North Miami Boulevard
▪ North Elizabeth Street and Liberty Street
▪ 1500 block of Robinhood Road
▪ Morehead Avenue between Chapel Hill Road and Anderson Street
▪ Fayetteville Road and Juliette Drive
▪ 3000 block of East Weaver Street
▪ Morehead between Chapel Hill Road and Norwood Avenue
▪ Guess Road and Hillandale Road at the Interstate 85 exits
▪ Farrington Road between Ridgefield Drive and Dunbrook Drive
▪ Lincoln Street at Linwood Avenue
Police are directing traffic at some locations. Motorists were also warned o watch for traffic lights out at:
▪ Duke Street and Horton Road
▪ North Roxboro Street and Duke Street, Horton Road, Carver Street and Old Oxford Road
▪ Guess Road and Latta Road, Horton Road, Broad Street
▪ West Club Boulevard and Broad Street
▪ Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard and Garrett Road
▪ N.C. 54 at Quadrangle Drive, Interstate 40, Farrington Road and Huntington Ridge
▪ Anderson Street at Erwin Road
▪ University Drive at Old Chapel Hill Road and Academy Road
▪ Academy Road at Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard, Pickett Road, Woodburn Road and Duke University Road
▪ Chapel Hill Road at Cornwallis Road
▪ West Markham Avenue at Ninth Street
▪ East Main Street at Elizabeth Street
▪ West Main Street at Gregson Street, Morgan Street and Buchanan Boulevard
▪ West Chapel Hill Street at South Gregson Street and West Pettigrew Street
▪ West Trinity Avenue at North Gregson Street
▪ West Morgan Street at North Duke Street and North Gregson Street
▪ Cheek Road at U.S. 70, Midland Terrace and Hardee Street
‘Destructive’ winds, weather alerts
Neighbors and passers-by stopped what they were doing to help Tuesday night, including Thomas S., who stopped to talk with The N&O while pulling branches off the streets with his black Dodge pickup truck Tuesday night.
The air was humid and thick with the scent of pine as first responders, tow trucks and city and power company crews spread out looking for problems.
“It’s been craziness. It’s just been trees down everywhere, said Thomas S., who declined to share his last name as he stopped to take a cigarette break on West Club Boulevard. He was slowly making his way home, from Glennstone Road to Hillsborough Road, clearing trees along the way, Thomas said.
“Just being a Good Samaritan and trying to get home at the same time,” he said.
The type of damage left behind is just as important as towers posted across the Triangle when determining wind speeds after a storm, National Weather Service meteorologist Aaron Swiggett said Wednesday. The towers only measure gusts at their location, he said.
“It’s not often that we issue destructive severe thunderstorm warnings, and that one was certainly one that warranted it. That’s for sure,” Swiggett said.
A recent update to the NWS alert system now includes a “destructive tag” when wind speeds reach 80 mph or more. The system sends an alert to all wireless systems in the area when triggered, pinging individual cell phone users, Swiggett said.
It’s similar to the tornado warnings that already go out when a twister is spotted, he said.
“We’ve had plenty of people reach out to us saying they got the alert on their phone, and they were able to take action and head inside,” Swiggett said.
Families seek shelter, cell service
Durham resident Heather Fisher was startled by how quickly the storm popped up. She watched as trash cans flew across Old Chapel Hill Road, construction debris was carried off site, and branches snapped from the trees in southwest Durham, she said Wednesday.
Her husband and their two young children took shelter at their home in northern Durham.
“It started raining. The winds got so strong and so crazy that they went to the bathroom, because he was worried about the trees,” Fisher said.
A Bradford pear tree in their yard came down, but didn’t cause any damage.
Like many other Durhamites, the Fishers lost cell service Tuesday evening. Other users have complained about not being able to send texts, calls dropping and trouble loading websites, making it additionally difficult to get information.
“It’s been real spotty,” Fisher said about her Verizon cell phone service. “There have been times when I had zero service at all.”
And they still don’t have power, she said.
“They originally said 7 a.m., but now there’s no estimate,” Fisher said.
Orange County trees, roads
Winds also caused severe damage Tuesday night in parts of central and southern Orange County.
Orange Rural Fire Department, based in downtown Hillsborough, responded to several calls about downed trees Tuesday night, some twisted up with power lines, along Old N.C. 86 near UNC Hospitals and Waterstone Drive and along Davis Road just south of town.
Additional reports said there were trees down along Orange Grove Road and in the White Cross community west of Carrboro.
Orange County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Alicia Stemper said Wednesday that county roads appeared to be open and back to normal. At least two homes — and maybe more — were damaged by falling trees and wind near Orange Grove Road and Dairyland Road, Stemper and fire department officials said.
No injuries were reported, they said, but “the recovery from this storm will take longer for many families,” Orange Rural fire officials said in a Facebook post.
The power at their home on Davis Road was restored around 4 a.m. Wednesday, Orange County resident Christie Hilliard said. The sound of the TV and the lights coming back on woke them up, but they were “very glad,” she said.
The wind took a shutter off their house and caused “a pretty good hit” to two old barns that had sentimental value. It “demolished” the chicken pen, she said, but the chickens are safe.
“I called my dad (Tuesday) and said, ‘I’m pretty sure one of my chickens is going to blow by your house. Can you catch it?’ ” she said.
But it was sad Wednesday morning to walk the property and see multiple trees felled where her father-in-law, who recently died, had long carved out hiking and four-wheeler trails for the family to enjoy, she said.
“There’s more than a dozen huge trees that have just come — root ball and all — just blown over. It looks like a war zone back there. It’s really depressing,” Hilliard said.
Staff writer Colleen Hammond contributed to this report.